NCDC holds first Ebola response meeting after FG declares outbreak
- The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control held its first incident management meeting on Wednesday.
- The meeting came a day after the Federal Government declared an Ebola outbreak in Nigeria.
- The confirmed case is a woman who arrived from Uganda and is now in isolation.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) brought its leadership and key partners together on Wednesday for the agency's first coordination meeting on the country's Ebola outbreak, a day after the Federal Government made the official declaration.
The agency announced the meeting in a statement posted on its X account. It said the session was meant to get everyone working from the same plan as the response moves forward.
According to the NCDC, its response plan was still being wrapped up on Wednesday, even as teams had already been sent out to work. Those teams, the agency said, are handling patient care and other response duties on the ground.
The agency listed its priorities as stronger disease monitoring, tracing everyone who may have come into contact with the patient, preventing infection and controlling its spread, and keeping the public informed in a coordinated way.
The NCDC said it is committed to a response that is timely, well coordinated and based on evidence, with the aim of protecting Nigerians' health.
What we know about the case
The Federal Government confirmed the country's first Ebola case on Tuesday after laboratory tests came back positive in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The patient is a woman who recently flew into Nigeria from Uganda. Reports say she was treated at a private hospital for several days before the diagnosis was confirmed. She is now in isolation.
For ordinary Nigerians, the key message from health officials is that contact tracing and infection prevention are the front line of this response. People who shared a flight, a hospital ward or a home with the patient are the group health workers will be looking for first.
What happens next
The NCDC says its action plan will be completed and its field teams will keep working on surveillance, contact tracing and infection control. Nigerians should expect more public health advice from the agency in the coming days, including guidance on hygiene and on what to do if symptoms appear.
Both Punch and Vanguard reported the same details of the case and the NCDC meeting, with no disagreement between them on the facts.
